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Monday, May 3, 2010

Medical Mondays: Good Morning. How's your function?

Diseases get lots of airtime in the media. Horrible things, like leukiemia, Alzheimers, and what we call bread-and-butter problems like heart disease. But did you know your doctors also think about whether you can manage laundry?

The ADLs (Activities of Daily Living) and IADLs (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living) are lists of thing you need to do in order to survive.

ADLs include bathing, brushing teeth, eating, dressing and undressing, going to the bathroom, and getting in and out of a chair.

When patients accumulate enough medical problems, doctors start thinking about whether they can handle their ADLs and IADLs. If not, then things like nursing homes, home aides, getting more family help, etc start entering our minds.

How does this relate to writing?

On a character level, does your writing show your MC or others doing their ADLs too much?

Megan woke up, yawning. She shuffled into the bathroom, brushed her teeth and dutifully applied her zit-cream. After a quick trip to the toilet, noticing once again her little brother forgot to change the toilet paper...

I mean, does this stuff really further the story? I used to put ADL stuff in my writing, realizing I was boring my betas to death.

How does this relate to authors?

Just a word of advice. I'm sure you're all bathing and eating, but please don't forget to perform your IADLs when you're totally absorbed in writing! That brain fog can get really bad sometimes. Pay the bills! Make sure the milk doesn't go sour in the fridge! Or your doctor just might have to get you a home health aide.

I will usually answer your question by email within a day or two, but post later so you don't have to wait a long time to get back to your WIP. All I ask in return is that you become a follower of my blog and post a link on your blog when I post. Easy peasy.

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comments:

Yup, sometimes I spend too much time on the ADLs, but thankfully I'm aware of this so can avoid it. I do, sometimes, write through the ADL anyway in order to get my brain where it needs to be for the next scene. I know I'll end up cutting it out, but I do it to keep up the flow for the moment.

I think ADLs should only add up in the narrative if they are REALLY important to the advancement of the character. They're better to mention if a character DOESN'T do them for a specific reason...like depression...or if they don't make them a habit, so to show character growth, they suddenly take responsibility for their personal hygiene.

You know, sometimes it bothers me that fictional characters never have to use the bathroom, etc. But I'm sure reading about those kinds of things would be boring. I tend to keep daily life details out of my stories, but it does make me wonder about the "reality" of what I'm creating.

I haven't included too much in the way of ADL's in my manuscript but I do remember this being one of the things that annoyed me in twilight. She was constantly in and out of the shower and brushing her hair.

Good post, Lydia. My manuscripts usually have a glaring absence of ADLs and IADLs, probably making my first readers feel uncomfortable when they realize my characters don't eat, brush their teeth, or use a bathroom. Obviously we shouldn't dwell on these things, but it's good to slip a hint or two into the story that our characters are normal humans.

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